New Talents
by ClockworkScales
Summary: Elspeth wishes to sleep but a Misfit has injured themself and alarmed the healer, Kella. Has a new Talent been discovered or is it just a coercive talent being used against them?


I was enjoying one of my few quiet days alone in my chamber at Obernewtyn, Maruman curled up on my lap, sleeping as I wished E could do

I was enjoying one of my few quiet days alone in my chamber at Obernewtyn, Maruman curled up on my lap, sleeping as I wished E could do. But I needed to stay awake in case something happened. Recently a new Misfit had arrived, although none of us knew what her Talent was, we knew she had one. She just wasn't telling us.

I sighed and sank lower into my chair, trying not to wake Maruman. I thought mournfully that he was probably prowling the dream tails as he normally did these days.

There was a knock on my door and I jumped up and Maruman hissed angrily from having being woken. In burst Kella, sweat dripping off her face.

'Guildmistress! I was just healing Rosalie when she suddenly changed shape. I thought she turned into a cat for a moment. She might have a coercive Talent which is yet to be controlled!'

'Take me to her,' I said firmly and followed Kella through the quiet hallways, how feet slapping precariously against the rock. Soon I was in the Healer Ward and Rosalie's blonde hair was smeared with blood. She must have hit her head against something pretty hard.

'Did somebody attack you?' I asked seriously. Rosalie avoided my eyes and stared at the floor.

'Rosalie,' Kella urged, 'it's impolite to look away from somebody when they're talking.'

Rosalie's grey eyes flitted to my face and I cringed mentally for her mind was strong and it showed in her eyes. It seemed unlikely that her Talent would be hard to control with a mind so strong.

'Rosalie, understand that it's okay if you don't want to tell us what Talent you've got, but it would be nice to fit you into one of the guilds.'

Rosalie crossed her arms, 'I don't fit in any of them.'

Kella put her arm on Rosalie's arm but she was pushed away.

'What makes you say that?' I asked, trying to force somesort of kindness into my voice. But forcing kindness never seemed to be a strong point of mine and it showed because Rosalie laughed.

'Just because…'

A nerve snapped inside of me. How I longed to sleep and rest! This silly Misfit wasn't helping anybody!

'If you don't have any Talent,' I began, 'you'll have to leave Obernewtyn.'

Just as I had expected, Rosalie's eyes widened with fear.

'No! Don't let me leave!'

'Then what Talent do you have?'

Rosalie took a deep breath and sighed, getting out of her bed. Kella held her hands saying not to stand up for the wound on her head will not have healed and she would feel faint but any unease Rosalie felt didn't show. She closed her eyes and I shook my head to see if what I was seeing was true:

Rosalie had turned into a cat!

She mewed and curled around my knees. I was dumbstruck.

'Is this some sort of coercive ability?'

The cat shook its furry head and then changed back as a straggly girl crouched on the floor.

'See, I don't fit into any of the guilds.'

I furrowed my eyebrows and whispered to Kella, 'do you think we should make a new guild for her?'

'Maybe you should ask Rushton about this…'

'No.' I said quickly, 'Maybe we should keep her in one of the coercive guilds, or maybe a beastspeaker guilds. I wonder how she'll be with the beastspeaking guilds. I wonder if this ability allows her to have both beastspeaking and farseeking abilities.'

'It kind of goes hand-in-hand.' Rosalie said.

I nodded, 'So, Rosalie, would you like to be in the beastspeaking guild?'

Rosalie looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. I smiled, glad to have finally sorted this out.

'Can you turn into other animals aside from a cat?'

'Aye, I can. Anything I want. I was a bird when I hit my head. I was practising landing on a branch but hit my head on it instead.'

She blushed prettily and I bade them leave, telling Rosalie to be careful and not to injure herself further. She nodded and jumped back into bed, clearly a lot happier that she finally had a place in the guilds. I wondered how many other, I decided to call them beastchangers, there were and if there were still other Talents we hadn't heard of yet.

When I arrived in my chamber I dressed into my undergarments and rested in my bed. Maruman finally came to rest near my head, his yellow eye glinting.

'Elspeth-Innle is correct for the mind is a powerful thing/concept, no doubt there are other Talents yet to be discovered.'

I thought that if there were more beastchangers we'd had to make a new guild and if there were more new Talents that we wouldn't run out of space with them. Peskily, I thought what Rushton would thought if an animal were to transform into a human. I pictured him leaping up in fright then trying to restore his dignity for questioning the human. I chuckled mentally.

'Enough of these mindpictures or I will leave,' Maruman said, irritating me for a moment but soon I was in the shortsleep dreaming of other Talents yet to be discovered.


End file.
